


Nettaiya

by Anonymous



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 1940s Vietnam, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, F/M, Gift Exchange, HEA, Holiday Fic Exchange, Post WWII, Royal Naval Officer Hux meets Bar Owner Rose, Secret Relationship, Vietnam War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:27:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: For the GR Holiday Fic Exchange——————————————————-It’s September 1945. The Japanese have surrendered. French Indochina is in a political unrest. The British have arrived. Rebellion awaits.Two lovers are caught in the middle.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16
Collections: Anonymous, Gingerose Holiday Exchange 2020: Secret Spy





	Nettaiya

**Author's Note:**

> a short story told in a series of moments

i. cheap beer

Smoke hung in the air like a thick fog. The smell of burning tobacco and marijuana filled his nostrils, making the young Lieutenant Colonel cough as he descended into the belly of the dimly lit bar. Music, perhaps French chanson, softly played from the old Wurlitzer jukebox in the back corner next to the bar. Soldiers, French that he could assume, laughed loudly over bottles of imported beer, tightly standing next to each other like sardines in a tin can. Armitage was told that the best place for a good beer, at least in that part of Saigon, was at the _La Rose Blanche_ , or “The White Rose”.

He should not have expected anything other than a watering hole. He was more frustrated at himself for having any hope of a decent place to finally let loose than the conditions of the establishment. With a grunt, he popped open the top button of his uniform, and pushed his way through the loud crowd of drunk soldiers and sailors. His French was rusty and he could barely make out any of the slurred conversations surrounding him — some of it was probably about the state of the colony, other conversations were about women and the war. English was far and few between.

“What can I get you?”

The sudden English — a North American accent at that — caught is attention. He looked around for the source but could only find the round face of a Vietnamese woman with long black hair pulled up into a bun that sat at the nape of her neck. She didn’t wear any makeup and her clothing was not attention grabbing. She cleared her throat and asked again. Louder.

Hux opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. Nothing.

“I’ll get you a beer,” she said as she reached beneath the bar and grabbed a bottle. “It isn’t anything you Brits would like but it’s something.”

Suddenly he found the courage to say something.

“How’d you know I’m British?”

The young woman smirked and popped the cap off the bottle, “Your uniform and the complete confusion on your face.”

The bottle felt nice — cool — against his calloused fingers. He brought it to his lips.

“The name’s Rose,” she put a coaster down and slid it towards him. “Welcome to the White Rose.”

She moved on to take care of the next customers. Pouring highballs of Japanese whisky and cheap liquor for drunk Frenchmen looking for a good time at the expense of the locals. The beer was light. Perhaps too light. Almost taste like piss. He kept his eye on the woman between each swig until there was nothing left in the bottle but the foam.

“Another round!”

Rose ran over to him and without another word grabbed a new bottle.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been rewritten six times. Every time I started writing it, it always ended up in a territory that I did not feel comfortable in — focusing too much on maintaining historical accuracy than writing a story about two lovers. 
> 
> Rose’s role has evolved from hotelier to former lover to random woman to bar owner. My biggest concern and worry was not in writing Hux, but writing Rose — maintaining her independence, identity, and dignity as an Asian woman in this period. Rose deserves the best and I wanted to make sure I delivered that as a fellow Asian woman.
> 
> Writing a historical AU that was true to Rose Tico and Armitage Hux was a challenge... and while the request wasn’t necessarily to be a historical AU, it was uniquely specified and there really isn’t much historical AUs for Gingerrose :3
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and stick by until the end. 
> 
> Happy Belated Holidays :)


End file.
